Public meetings to give update on Aylesbury Woodlands development (the one that includes an eastern link road)

Aerial view showing the Aylesbury Woodlands site

Proposals for a big development to the east of Aylesbury which includes large swathes of employment land and a link road should be submitted to council planners in March.

The plans for Aylesbury Woodlands between the Grand Union Canal and the A41 were first unveiled in June.

They include enough employment land for 9,000 jobs, around 1,100 homes and a leisure hub.

The scheme would also pay towards the building of the southern part of the eastern link road, so that by 2019/20 it would be possible to drive from the Woodlands roundabout on the Aston Clinton bypass to the A418 just outside Bierton without going into the town centre or using Broughton Lane.

Following technical work and a public consultation, the proposals have been tweaked so a number of exhibitions will be held to update residents.

The proposals are being put forward by development agency Bucks Advantage, which includes the county and district councils as its members.

Its chief executive Richard Harrington said: “We have had good feedback. Obviously communities are concerned about development and increased traffic on our infrastructure. But our motive for doing this is to ensure the Eastern Link Road South is built. I think the public got that and they’re generally supportive of the proposal.

“The other thing is all the other development we have seen has been housing led but our development is employment led. The proposal of jobs infrastructure I think the community is supportive of.”

The scheme was boosted in November when the government designated the site as an enterprise zone – enabling firms there to get business rate relief.

Mr Harrington said an outline planning application is likely to be submitted in March.

Given the application’s size, final planning permission enabling work to proceed – if forthcoming at all – may not be given until the end of 2017 or start of 2018.

This would enable their part of the link road to be built by 2019/20. It is hoped that Barratt Homes, which has just started work on the Kingsbrook development near Bierton, would also complete its part of the link road by this time as well.

Three public exhibitions have been organised to allow people to view how the master plan has evolved from the concepts presented at the public exhibitions in July 2015. These are being held at:

> Jubilee Hall, Bierton on Thursday, January 14, 3pm – 7pm.

> Weston Turville Village Hall on Thursday January 21, 4pm – 7pm.

> Anthony Hall, Aston Clinton on Saturday January 23, 11am – 3pm.